Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Dreaming Of A Dinosaur In A Maidenform Bra

The Tully Monster was a soft-bodied animal. It is preserved as outlines and flattened forms in nodules of ironstone from several areas in Illinois. It lived in the ocean that covered much of Illinois during the Pennsylvanian Period (about 300 million years ago). It was probably an active, swimming carnivore. The flexible body was probably round or oval in cross section. It may have been segmented, but some recent work suggests that it was not. The tail had horizontal fins and a dorsal fin; all three of the fins were triangular.

The Tully Monster had a long proboscis. At the end was a jaw that contained eight small, sharp teeth. There is no evidence that the throat went down the proboscis. It seems more likely that the proboscis was a muscular organ used to pass food to the mouth. Near the middle of the body was a transverse bar that passed through the body. The bar had swellings on the end. These may have been the animal s sensory organs. Scientists do not know to what other animals the Tully Monster is related. Some scientists have speculated that it is related to snails and other molluscs.

The Tully Monster was first found by Mr. Francis Tully in 1958. He took the specimens to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The specimen defied identification and became known as the Tully Monster. The name stuck. When Dr. Eugene Richardson formally described the new animal, he gave it the name Tullimonstrum gregarium. The species name gregarium means common. This refers to the fact that Tully Monsters are fairly common fossils in the Mazon Creek deposits. More recently they have also been found in open-pit coal mines in central Illinois.

The Mazon Creek deposits are located in Will and Grundy Counties. They are some of the most important fossil deposits in North America because the soft parts of many organisms are preserved. The deposits contain the remains of both plants and animals. Some of the organisms lived in the ocean; others were washed in from the nearby shore. The material is preserved in concretions of ironstone.

They were in Toronto. He bought his clothes
from the Tilley Endurables main store
and she’d come along to help pick his stuff.
She said she’d never wear such clothing but
for fun she tried on a skirt and top and
liked them so much she bought them for herself.

That started what she called her Matt wardrobe.
She couldn’t believe she liked the clothing.

Tully Monsters are foot-long fossils
from three hundred million years ago
that are found only in Illinois.

Tilley Endurables is clothing
that’s found in a store in Toronto.

The fossils have endured a long time
and Tully sounds a lot like Tilley
so I’ve always thought it would be cool
to drive up to Toronto and shop
for pants and a hat that can endure
and then drive to some open-pit mine
in downstate Illinois where tourists
are allowed to hunt through blasted rocks
and find the fossil of a monster
whose name sounds like the name of my clothes.

This has seemed like a good idea
to me for years but I’ve never owned
a car that could endure all that work.

It still seems like a good idea,
my desire continues to endure.

I dreamed I found a Tully Monster
in my Tilley Endurables clothes.

It’s a good dream for me but since guys
don’t wear bras I know it won’t be big.